The March 8 edition of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights presented by Corona Extra will feature Victor “Mermelada” Cayo (31-3, 21 KOs), who once fought for the Junior Welterweight title, and Emanuel “Tranzforma” Taylor (16-1, 11 KOs) in the 10-round main event. Friday’s show from the Resorts Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., will air live at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2 HD.
Main Event:
Dominican Republic’s Cayo has won his last four fights, three by knockout. He won a 10-round unanimous decision over Vladimir Baez in his last fight and enters Friday’s bout with big fight experience, having fought former and current titlists Nate Campbell, Marcos Maidana, Julio Diaz and Lamont Peterson.
Maryland’s Taylor, has won his last two fights and is coming off one of his best wins, a sixth-round TKO over Raymond Serrano.
After the fight, Dan Rafael wrote: “Serrano started off well enough, appearing to edge Taylor in the first two rounds, but then it was all downhill. Taylor began landing nice short punches when the fighters were on the inside, and did a good job on defense to avoid most of what was coming back. He was really in a groove landing combinations and controlling the action when he badly hurt Serrano against the ropes in the sixth round. With Taylor landing a barrage of unanswered blows, (the) referee stepped in to call off the fight at 1 minute, 42 seconds.”
Co-Feature:
Friday’s 10-round co-feature will pit undefeated Heavyweight Magomed “Mago” Abdusalamov (16-0, 16 KOs) against Victor Bisbal (21-1, 15 KOs). Abdusalamov scored a second-round TKO win over Jameel McCline in his last fight, while Bisbal is looking to win his 17th straight fight, following a sixth-round TKO win over Alex Gonzalez.
The card is promoted by Sampson Boxing. Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas will be ringside describing the action for ESPN2 HD, while studio host Todd Grisham (@GrishamESPN) will provide the latest boxing news and highlights. Friday’s studio show will discuss the March 9 title fight between Light Heavyweight titlist Tavoris Cloud and Bernard Hopkins. Hopkins, 48, is looking to break his own record in becoming the oldest fighter to win a world title.
